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Reviews
Okka Magadu (2008)
balayya as bharateeyudu
This film bears a freaky resemblance to the Kamal Hassan starrer 'Bharateeyudu', and one would agree this is not accidental. A revolutionary freedom fighter (balayya senior) resurfaces to fight for a rather contrived cause( that of restoring 'the value of life'). It is painfully obvious that the plot is'nt important, it only exists to elevate the protagonist. Consequently, we see many incomplete characters. The only other fully developed character in the film 'Baby'(Simran) is any weekend movie watcher's nightmare. She not only looks a demented witch, but succeeds admirably in acting like one.
The film has a lot of sleaze courtesy of Anushka and Nisha Kothari, whose job is to embarrass themselves and the viewers in order to establish and reinforce the immense sexual desirability of balayya. This come across in all the 'songs'; also featured in the songs is a dancing balayya with an apparel range that is extremely offensive to the eye.
Most dialogues are so absurd they actually entertain(eg. nenu meesam unna devudni, I am virus). The 'fights' are fun too( one shot in which balayya turns himself 180 degrees and lands on a fully recline Chinese fighter with his head first had me laughing for about half an hour). Thus, there are some rewards for the brave viewer willing to survive Simran.
Annavaram (2006)
Annoyingly mindless
Mess with an upright man and see what happens?! He'll unleash a wave of gory violence sweeping up all who wronged him, all the while meticulously finding opportunities for song/dance sequences with nearly-naked gorgeous young women. This, as outrageous as it seems, is the formula for a successful Telugu Cinema. Annavaram is a spectacular failure at implementing this ridiculously sure-fire formula. Pawan Kalyan, coming hard on the heels of a highly disastrous "Bangaram", ends up leading another crime against the motion picture.
The storyline is hard to understand. Frames, with no obvious inter-connections, jump at you. There is no adequate justification for the violence perpetrated by the hero. The 'sister-sentiment' that pervades the first half is so pathetically artificial that it is actually amusing. Comedy is non-existent, though a whole troupe of comedy actors make their appearance. Venu Madhav overdoes his part so much, one actually wishes he were killed much earlier in the film. In his revenge, the hero is neither an emotionally charged action machine nor a calculating, cold-blooded plotter. So what is he like? What exactly is his mission? why does he think anything he does solves what he thinks is a problem? The half-baked approach of the film raises a family of such questions. But thankfully, the average Telugu film goer is not equipped to think logically. If you, however, belong to the precious minority who do, I presume to suggest chewing pieces of broken glass as an activity much more pleasurable than watching 'Annavaram'.